PREORDER Rapido HO 145009 Budd Gallery Bi-Level Commuter Coach, Metra Unnumbered

The Rapido Trains HO Scale Budd Gallery Bi-Level Commuter Coach is based onthe cars delivered to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad for Chicagocommuter service. With the conclusion of World War II and the shift towardsincreased commuting from the newly established suburbs and downtown jobs,railroads were looking for ways to replace their fleets with modernequipment following the war. With the need to haul more passengers per car,and with the length of cars maxed out, Pullman and Budd developed whatwould quickly be called the "gallery car." Using a standard passenger carchassis design, the height of the car was extended to the maximum clearancepermitted and cantilevered walkways were placed above standard passengercar (similar to luggage racks) with additional seating added on an upperlevel. The open space between the upper levels allowed a single conductorto check all tickets, and also gave the cars their nickname - The GalleryCar. With wide center doors and stairs to each of the 4 rows of galleryseating, these cars proved immensely popular in carrying more passengersand reducing loading time at stations.
The first examples of these cars built by Budd would be delivered to theChicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in 1950 with an order of 30 coaches.The first cab cars would be developed for the Milwaukee Road with an orderof 8 (along with 32 regular coaches) in 1961. Over 350 cars in total wouldbe built by Budd, with the final examples rolling off the line in 1978.Since then other manufacturers have continued to use the overall concept ofthe gallery car for the design and construction of new vehicles, some ofwhich have displaced many of the earliest cars built by Budd as well asPullman.
While the Milwaukee Road and Rock Island fleets were built with Head EndPower (HEP), the original Burlington cars were equipped for steam heat.Starting in 1973, the Burlington Northern started a program to convert theoriginal CBQ fleet to include HEP. This resulted in the cars losing theirsteam heat in favor of electric heat and the original incandescent lightswas replaced with fluorescent lights.
All remaining gallery cars from the Burlington, Rock Island, Milwaukee Roadand Chicago & North Western would go on to form the backbone for Metra, thenew regional commuter operator in the Chicago area, starting in 1984. Manyof the original Budd-built cars, as well as some Pullman examples, continueto provide service today.
Features include:
Designed from original blueprints, design drawings and fieldmeasurements.Track-powered flicker-free interior lighting compatible with DC and DCClayouts.Factory-installed grab irons and full underbody detailingFree-rolling, highly-detailed trucks with metal wheelsets.Complete interior including actual gallery seating.Controllable cab car lighting in both DC and DCC, including headlights,marker lights, as well as ditch lights and strobe lights (whenapplicable)Metal magnetic knuckle couplersMinimum 22} radius curves recommended.
Check out the entire line of Rapido HO Scale passenger cars.